


Fire in the Night

by spectrum_sanctuary



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Do not try this at home kids, Epilogue Mikleo, Epilogue Sorey, Light Angst, M/M, What else is new, also lots of fluff and cheesiness, an attempt at it, but mostly pretty imagery, post-game spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-02-12 14:07:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12960993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spectrum_sanctuary/pseuds/spectrum_sanctuary
Summary: Mikleo had never been fascinated with fire, always wondered how people could describe it as pretty.Sorey just might be able to make him see it in a new light.





	Fire in the Night

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> This fic was supposed to be for Day 4 of the Sormik Advent Calendar but emergencies at work and my own mistake to wait for the last minute to write are why this is only posted today. I deeply apologize. I was told it's still okay and to go post it anyway despite my tardiness, so here we are.
> 
> My calendar prompt is... ah, it'll spoil the fic, so I'll just put it in the end.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Mikleo awoke to the smell of burning.

The scent of smoke and ash was faint in the air, mingled with the damp fragrance of wood and greenery in the forest that he and Sorey were currently camping out in.

He rushed out of the tent he’d been lying in, seeing that the campfire he was sure that they put out earlier before retreating to sleep together was still the same, completely snuffed out to a pile of ashes. Then what was…

Wait… _Where was Sorey?_

Immediately, the panic burst into his chest, flooding his veins with a deep chill that was borne out of centuries of loneliness and fear. It was a primal dread that was only too slow to dissipate, still ingrained in his instincts after it had developed in Sorey’s absence, even though Sorey had now returned to the living world --- _to Mikleo’s side_ \--- after he had finished his task of purifying the continent.

It took him several years, perhaps a century even, to learn to calm his shivering body and rein in the thoughts going wild in his head (Lailah always was so kind and helpful, especially on non-seraphic arte related stuff like this), and be able to bring himself down to rationality, and return to the cool, calculated personality that was the norm for him. And so now, he had a clearer mind to take stock of the current situation and deduce what exactly was happening.

He was not currently in the middle of a raging inferno at least (an involuntary shudder ran through his spine as an image from history came to mind), so he – and the beautiful forest – was relatively safe. Still, the smoky smell remained in the air, so there was bound to be a source of it somewhere nearby.

_A fire._

And maybe, just maybe, Mikleo had a faint inkling of what this could be about.

After making sure that the coat was wrapped snugly over his body, he zipped the tent close and began a trek through the forest.

The walk served the dual purpose of helping his heart calm down more from earlier, and to rouse the magic in his body. After hundreds of years of experience, he had learned to be more proficient in the ways he could apply it. Like right now, as he let it guide his senses, and search for that flame that had emerged in this forest, not entirely by chance.

Eventually, he found it. In a clearing with few trees clustered together than most of the area, the space overtaken instead by a fallen log and a bunch of shrubs and weeds, was the cause.

To be more precise, it was _who_ was producing the fire.

Sorey was standing there in the middle of the clearing, his side facing Mikleo. He didn’t notice the water seraph’s arrival to the scene, not with how intently he was focused on the small fireball he had cupped in one of his hands, the other tapping at his chin in seemingly deep pondering. Mikleo could barely make out the words that Sorey was muttering under his breath, his eyebrows scrunched like he was in the deep throes of a dilemma over that little flame he had conjured.

Mikleo considered waiting for Sorey to arrive to the conclusion to his problem, but knew from experience that when Sorey was like this, it would take him several hours or even the entire day before he would tear his eyes and mind away from the subject he was studying, and only Mikleo pulling him out with the promise of vanilla soft-serve or a demand to sleep could get him back to the world of the living.

So, Mikleo stepped forward and spoke. “Sorey.”

A shocked gasp erupted from Sorey’s lips as he whipped around into Mikleo’s direction. The fireball jumped out of his hands in conjunction with his body jolting from the surprise, and it temporarily snatched his attention back as he attempted to stop it from dropping to the floor and actually causing an inferno. The flame juggled in between his hands like it was a hot potato his fingers were trying to pass on to the other hand so that it would suffer instead, and it took a few noticeable moments before he was finally able to cradle the ball of fire back into his palm, safely out of the flammable litter on the forest floor.

Mikleo was probably the only person who would watch Sorey’s impromptu jiggle with an eyebrow kicked up unimpressed when any other person would have rushed to him in panic. Maybe because the element of confusion and exasperation he would have otherwise felt had dulled over the years of Sorey’s reckless spontaneity in their youth? Or perhaps it was because he was Grand Seraph Mikleo, and any fire that would have arisen would be easily put out by an effortless cast of Splash or, if he was in the mood, a summoning of actual torrential downpour? It was hard to tell.

“Mikleo!” Sorey jogged closer to him, his long white ponytail tinted crimson at the ends swaying behind him after he’d safely dispelled the flame in his hand. “Don’t startle me like that. I almost set the forest on fire!”

The frown on Mikleo’s face turned down even more as he instead replied with a question. “What were you doing out here?”

“Eh? Oh, that’s---!” Sorey’s cheeks were red, refusing to meet the coolly analyzing violet irises on him. “I… couldn’t sleep?”

Mikleo almost rolled his eyes. _Almost_. “Lying to me is useless, Sorey, so do us both a favor and tell the truth.” The words came out sharply and more curtly than he intended them to be, thus prompting Sorey to look back at Mikleo, worry swimming in his eyes.

“Are you…” The orange feathers in his ears and hair tie seemed to droop along with his tone. “… mad at me?”

Violet eyes blinked as Mikleo processed the question. He then searched within himself for the answer, which didn’t take long.

“No… No, I’m not.” The response this time was softer, with effort seemingly taken for it to sound so. After centuries of being apart, being angry was the last thing Mikleo wanted to be when it came to Sorey. But his tone earlier was just an unfortunate remnant of the earlier panic he felt, masking itself in a veil of sternness.

It was now Mikleo’s turn to avert his eyes. “I was just… worried.” His left hand squeezed tightly at his other arm’s sleeve as he pursed his lips. “You left me alone…” He paused and swallowed, unable to notice that Sorey’s eyes had widened. “… in the tent without---”

He was cut off when Sorey sprang into action as soon as the word ‘ _alone_ ’ left his lips. The muscular arms wrapped around his shoulders, the rest of his words muffled as his face was buried into Sorey’s chest. Any surprise he felt or any protest he would have mustered at the sudden hug melted away with the warmth that quickly encased him like a protective, reassuring blanket. Sorey had always been warm, in both the physical sense as a human emanating more prominent body heat than the seraphs who were spiritual beings, and in summation of the kind of personality he had. But now that he was a reborn fire seraph, it was more literal and physical than ever. Mikleo’s body, which used to be so embarrassed and averse to any form of physical affection from Sorey, changed over the years of longing and now liked being nestled in the heat, welcoming the offered comfort.

“I’m sorry.” Sorey always spoke with genuine emotion when he was speaking from the heart, and so there was no way Mikleo could think of this apology as anything but sincere. And so was the guilt laced into it.

Even though it was obvious that Sorey was just apologizing for the current situation, all his apologies upon returning from his sleep felt heavier than they should be. It was almost always added with the weight of the loneliness he had left Mikleo with to bear for centuries. Even though it was for a good cause, even though it was for the sake of their shared dream, it didn’t change the fact that it _hurt_.

Plain and simple.

But sensing that guilt in Sorey’s tone made it well up within Mikleo too. He didn’t want Sorey to feel guilty for the heavy decision he had to make. For choosing to be a hero and sacrificing his life and time for the sake of their dream of a world of peaceful coexistence. And for making Mikleo wait for him for a very long time, without definite reassurance that he would actually return and making Mikleo go on with life clinging only to the fragile threads of hope and a promise.

Ever since Sorey’s return, sorrowful, introspective moments like these were far few between the two of them. Yet every time they did pop up, the pain that stabbed at Mikleo’s heart always felt like a fresh wound.

However…

… The two of them had also agreed that there was no need for them to dwell on these moments for too long. Not when they finally have all the freedom and time in the world to be together, as both seraphs.

Mikleo eventually raised his head, mentally waving away the sorrowful thoughts. “Apology accepted.” A small smile stretched on his lips. “But now you definitely owe me an explanation as to why you were out here.”

Sorey was willing to join the attempt to lighten up the atmosphere. “All right, all right.” He let go of Mikleo slowly, feeling his smile grow now that his eyes were met with Mikleo’s beautiful smiling face. “I was practicing. For a surprise I was planning to show you.”

Violet eyes blinked. “A surprise?”

“Yes. Though I guess it can’t be called that now, huh?” Sorey chuckled.

Mikleo didn’t answer, pondering as he was about what Sorey could have been planning. That wonder must have shown up on his face though, because Sorey then said:

“I can show it to you now if you want.”

“Huh?” Mikleo met Sorey’s eyes dead-on, and saw him grinning excitedly. “Right now? But it’s the middle of the night. And didn’t you say you were still practicing?”

Sorey laughed. “It’s meant to be seen at night, so that’s not a problem. It’s a cloudless night, too, which makes it more ideal. And yeah, I am, but I think I’m confident enough that I won’t mess it up too much. You already know it’s coming, anyway, and I just really want you to see it.” The green eyes were alight and alive with pure enthusiasm and happiness. “So, come on!”

He wrapped his hand around Mikleo’s and squeezed by way of invitation.

Mikleo had a moment of dumbly looking at their intertwined hands, but it was a moment that wasn’t to last long, as he nodded lightly and squeezed back, even if he was still confused. “All right.”

Seeing the brilliant shine of Sorey’s eyes and smile go brighter upon his reply made his decision to go along with the other’s plan worth it.

* * *

  
They made their way to an even bigger clearing that they had passed through earlier in the day. The canopy of trees they had entered in the afternoon and decided to camp in was behind them, and now the view was an open field of relatively flat ground with a scattering of weeds.

Sorey stopped in his tracks. “This place should be good enough.” He looked up to the sky. “Yeah, this is good.”

Mikleo followed suit, turning his eyes upwards as well. As Sorey had stated earlier, there was not a cloud to be seen. The moon seemed far away, with only a tiny smattering of stars dotting the blanket of blackness. He looked back to the ground as he heard Sorey’s footsteps, the fire seraph now standing in front of him, though with a bit of distance.

“Are you ready?”

He nodded, curiosity rising.

Upon his affirmation, Sorey opened the pouch tied to the belt on his side. He reached for the content inside it, and his hand came back out with what looked like to be small thin tube with a short thin string looking like a tail on it. He tossed it up in the air, just as a small flame came to life in his other hand and attached itself to the tail before the tube could fall back to the ground. The ball of fire seemed to have a mind of its own, as it pulled and swung around the slow burning tail until the tube was vertical, managing to do so just as the thread ran out.

Mikleo’s widened eyes followed the flaming tube as it then shot up towards the sky, his lips opening in a gasp as it exploded in a pretty burst of tiny white sparkles.

He snapped his head back to Sorey, who was smiling so widely at him, and now held three more tubes in between his fingers. He threw them up high, and then made a show of snapping his fingers for three flames to appear in the air in succession, which rushed to the tubes like rapid fireflies.

The sky lit up in white, blue and violet.

The word “Wow…” softly tumbled out of his lips.

When he was a child, Mikleo remembered practicing so hard on his magic on his own. And whenever he would succeed in a new arte or managed to create a pretty effect with bubbles and ice crystals, he would _always_ rush towards where Sorey would be, even if he was feeling drained and his clothes were messed up from the training, and show off what he had just learned to do. The happiness and awe he would witness bloom in Sorey’s eyes and the compliments yelled at him made him feel proud, boosted his confidence, and easily drove away the exhaustion that set in his bones.

Mikleo wondered if that amazed face of Sorey’s that he’d always loved to see directed at him was what he himself was sporting right now, as he kept his eyes open for the show, faint gasps of delight escaping from his lips without him even having to think of them.

The night sky had become a backdrop for the colourful art that Sorey was crafting with his fire powers. Down on the ground was the painter, doing it through striking movements as the flames were lit up and swung in different ways and poses. The ground show entertained Mikleo as much as the sky one did. Sorey’s fire dance didn’t have the grace and smooth flow that Lailah’s had --- his had more excitable and bouncy movements, as if he was just playing with the fire itself. It was like a less panicked version of his fireball juggling earlier in the forest, really. There was no rhythm to his steps, and it was more akin to a theatrical actor embellishing his dialogue and movements in an attempt for effect than a natural dancer.

Well, he thought with a soft chuckle, Sorey _did_ have a penchant for dramatic exaggeration, if his attempts at poetry were anything to go by.

Sorey had managed to display all the colours of the rainbow in a variety of effects. Mikleo felt immense surprise from the one where the sparkles that lingered after the burst swam for a distance in the air, like tiny fishes, curious how that was possible but still impressed by the effect. And the one where the light fell slowly in a trail of glitters, reminding him of a waterfall, was just soft and pretty.

_Pretty_ , huh…

Mikleo had never been fascinated with fire, always wondered how people could describe it as pretty. It hurt and destroyed life and material alike, leaving nothing of the original. Upon learning of his origins in the Earthen Historia that Mayvin showed them at Lohgrin, he’d idly thought that the reason for this view of his was rooted there. After all, it was flames that had first destroyed his life. Michael was only the finishing blow. He doubted he could have lived well with the likely horrific burns he suffered then, if the horror in his uncle’s face and voice was an indicator. His infant body likely couldn’t conjure coherent thoughts but by instinct could have developed a hate or fear of the entity that took his life. Maybe that’s why fate decreed him to be reborn as a water seraph, to be strong against fire and have the power to extinguish any fire that would come his way.

But right now, right here, watching the show of lights in the sky and Sorey playing with his seraphic artes and looking like he was enjoying himself so much, Mikleo could say that he was happy with the fire.

Sorey finished the show eventually with a bang, filling the sky with so many coloured lights and sparkles that the darkness of night was nearly driven away. He’d worked up a sweat from the effort but was able to get his breathing back to level quickly, his excited grin muted down to a satisfied smile. That smile seemed to become even happier as Mikleo made his way closer to Sorey.

“Mikleo!” He laughed, and it was a laugh so pure and so full of innocent delight like a child’s. Mikleo could never get tired of hearing it. “What did you think of my surprise?”

“Well…” Mikleo crossed his arms and hummed like he was thinking, but it was obviously done lightly. “… as you said earlier, it was no longer a surprise.” His lips quirked into a proud smile as he then said, “But it was really, really beautiful and wonderful. How did you do it?”

Sorey’s face lit up from the praise, and Mikleo felt his heart jump in response, “The tubes contained metals that were mined in Gododdin recently. Forsea told me in a letter about how they seemed to be responsive to fire artes, likely due to being near Igraine, and sent me some to see and test for myself. I didn’t expect them to react like so, but with some tinkering, I was able to make them work like what I just showed you. It was amazing, right?”

“Yes.” Mikleo’s face softened. “And I would definitely love to see a repeat performance from you, if you’re up for it.”

“Of course!” Sorey replied easily. “And next time, I’ll give you an even longer and prettier show than the one tonight.”

“Prettier, huh?” Mikleo raised an eyebrow, his smile laced with a teasing challenge, as if this was one of their little ruin debates and races. Maybe it’s now an activity to be added to that list.

“Definitely!” Sorey’s eyes sparkled with determination, always rising to the fight and prove Mikleo wrong. Or awed. Though, his smile matched Mikleo’s teasing one when he then said, “But no matter how pretty I can make the lights with my fire works, they’ll never compare to how pretty you are, Mikleo.”

On cue, Mikleo’s face exploded in a blush. He attempted to cover up his cheek with his palm but it was not a success.

“Y-you… You… Saying something like that…!” He muttered, as his heart drummed hard against his chest.

Sorey just laughed as he took Mikleo into his arms. He gently tilted Mikleo’s chin up and gazed lovingly at the amethyst irises. “I’m so happy I was able to come back to you, Mikleo,” he said softly. “Because I want us to keep making beautiful and memorable moments like this together for the rest of our lives.”

Pretty works of fire wasn’t Sorey’s only talent apparently --- so was delivering dramatically cheesy and romantic lines with a straight face.

_And STILL be able to make Mikleo melt._

It was _this_ that he had waited and endured centuries of loneliness and heartache for. And despite how the pain of those times flared up every now and then like earlier in the forest, Mikleo didn’t regret it one bit.

This time, Mikleo was the one with the surprise, as he leaned up and pressed his lips to Sorey’s.

Sorey’s gasp was muffled by Mikleo’s mouth but he soon responded with fervor, wrapping his other arm around Mikleo’s slender waist and endowing the water seraph’s body with the heat he was finding new ways of appreciation for. And there was bound to be more of those that Sorey as a fire seraph would give him.

There would be plenty of time and chances for that.

They had an eternity together, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> My calendar prompt was... *dramatic drum roll* Fireworks! Hard to guess, huh? Haha!
> 
> But it sure was a fascinating experience having to research how fireworks... work. As was describing it in fic like this. I know that the "fireworks" in this fic falls under That's Not How It Works and also Sorey and Mikleo should be mostly deaf after that show but let's pretend that Sorey's fireworks weren't that loud and he was able to make the fireworks with just the core metal/star and his fire. Uhh, it's magic? 
> 
> Also as I said in the tags, Don't Try This at Home kids, please don't copy Sorey, handling fireworks carelessly like that just to show off to the love of your life. 
> 
> LOL Anyways, hope you enjoyed it, and thank you for reading!


End file.
